Dharmapuri: Mom tries to kill girl for protesting child marriage

Dharmapuri: The timely alert of her younger sister saved the life of a minor girl, a class 11 student of the local government school here who was served food laced with poison. The gruesome act was allegedly committed by none other than her mother for not accepting an early marriage.

The incident came to light on Tuesday after the 16-year-old girl went to the police station and complained against her 40-year-old mother Dhanalakshmi.

The girl is the elder daughter of 46-year-old Kumar and Dhanalakshmi, both poor farmhands of Kuzhikadu village in Jittandahalli panchayat of Palacode taluk in Dharmapuri. The girl's parents who have four daughters decided to marry off their elder daughter to a man who lured them with money. When informed about the marriage proposal, the girl opposed it, for which she was brutally beaten up by her parents on Monday night, sources said.

The next day, the girl went to school with a lunch box given by her mother. She was accompanied by her younger sister who tipped her off about some poisonous substance mixed in the food.

The girl, shaken because of her mother's plot to kill her, went to Mahinderamangalam police and informed them about the murder bid.

However, the police did not register any case against her parents because the girl was not ready to give a written complaint. She felt that her younger sisters would be left with nobody to take care of them.

Police, in a wise gesture, handed over the girl to Child line staff in Dharmapuri because she wished to stay in a government-run home and complete her school education.